The present invention relates to a mushroom bed cultivation method for cultivating a fruit body of Agaricus and a medium used for such a method.
Various types of mushrooms belonging to genus Agaricus of the family Agaricaceae (hereinafter, comprehensively referred to xe2x80x9cAgaricusxe2x80x9d) are known, including Agaricus blazei Murrill, Agaricus bisporus, Agaricus sylvaticus, Agaricus arvensis and the like. For example, Agaricus blazei Murrill is also referred to as xe2x80x9chimematsutakexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9ckawari-haratakexe2x80x9d (Takashi MIZUNO and Masamitsu KAWAI, ed., xe2x80x9cKinoko no Kagaku/Seikagaku, published by Gakkai Shuppan Center, pp. 223-228 (1992)). Agaricus blazei Murrill grows naturally in the mountains of Piedade in the suburbs of Sao Paulo, which is located in the southeast part of Brazil, and the inhabitants there have been eating its fruit bodies for ages.
Recently, it was reported that an extract from fruit bodies of Agaricus is effective in curing adult diseases and cancer, and that Agaricus is a exceedingly promising medicinal mushroom. Thus, a demand for fruit bodies of Agaricus is expected to increase. So far, fruit bodies of Agaricus have been in demand more in Europe and the United States than in Japan, but is considered to be more and more demanded in Japan as a medicinal mushroom.
By the way, today, fruit bodies of Agaricus are merely obtained by picking natural Agaricus or cultivating in greenhouses such as vinyl plastic hothouses or prefabricated greenhouses, in warm regions by a xe2x80x9cridge culture methodxe2x80x9d.
Even if natural Agaricus is picked, it has a disadvantage that natural Agaricus can only be obtained in warm regions as can be appreciated from the fact that Agaricus naturally grows in the southeast part of Brazil. The xe2x80x9cridge culture methodxe2x80x9d is the only method conventionally available for cultivating Agaricus. This method is carried out in the following manner. Ridges are formed of compost which is prepared by fermenting straw of rice, sugarcane bagasse or the like, and then the ridges are covered with soil to form ridge beds. Parts of the ridges where the compost exists are inoculated with a spawn of Agaricus, and then fruit bodies of Agaricus are grown. The ridge culture method is carried out in the greenhouses, but the yield of fruit bodies of Agaricus is low due to its roughness and is susceptible to influences of the weather since the greenhouses are built outdoors. Accordingly, stable production of fruit bodies of Agaricus throughout the year cannot be realized.
Therefore, a mushroom bed cultivation method in which the fruit bodies of Agaricus can be cultured stably, intensively, in large quantities and without any influence of the weather, is desired.
A mushroom bed cultivation method for cultivating a fruit body of Agaricus according to the present invention includes the step of culturing Agaricus in a medium including grain.
In a preferred embodiment, the grain includes at least one of foxtail millet, Deccan grass, Chinese millet, rice plant and wheat.
In a preferred embodiment, the medium includes foxtail millet, Deccan grass and Chinese millet.
In a preferred embodiment, the medium includes 35 to 45% of foxtail millet, 35 to 45% of Deccan grass, and 10 to 30% of Chinese millet in a dry weight ratio.
In a preferred embodiment, the medium further includes at least one of a nutrient and a medium matrix.
In a preferred embodiment, the medium includes the nutrient at a ratio of 0 to 300 weight parts and the medium matrix at a ratio of 0 to 300 weight parts with respect to 100 weight parts of the grain.
A medium for mushroom bed cultivation used for cultivating a fruit body of Agaricus according to the present invention includes a grain.
In a preferred embodiment, the grain includes at least one of foxtail millet, Deccan grass, Chinese millet, rice plant and wheat.
In a preferred embodiment, the medium includes foxtail millet, Deccan grass and Chinese millet.
In a preferred embodiment, the medium includes 35 to 45% of foxtail millet, 35 to 45% of Deccan grass, and 10 to 30% of Chinese millet in a dry weight ratio.
In a preferred embodiment, the medium further includes at least one of a nutrient and a medium matrix.
In a preferred embodiment, the medium includes the nutrient at a ratio of 0 to 300 weight parts and the medium matrix at a ratio of 0 to 300 weight parts with respect to 100 weight parts of the grain.